ANMA - It’s a Burger Episode

Episode Date: October 23, 2023

Good morning, Gus! You read that right, it’s a burger episode, this time from Dan’s on airport. Gus and Geoff talk about Breakfast taco prevalence, Dan’s history, I-35 expansion, Vampire store & Starseeds, Infrastructure, Dan’s lore, Burnout, and Sorry for the shorter episode! Sponsored by Beam http://shopbeam.com/ANMA and use code ANMA Uncommon Goods http://uncommongoods.com/ANMA and BetterHelp http://betterhelp.com/ANMA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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And the last episode was a couple of weeks ago at this point. We did a little pre-record. That was at Annie's day and night where we got those tacos and on Riverside. Good name. Yeah, I like it. That was a cool spot. Talked a lot about breakfast tacos living on Riverside, old Austin food against new Austin food. Waffle House against taco, cabana, and a fun Starbucks drive through

the story. But that was all last time, right? This is this time. And there's a new episode of Animal. How prevalent are breakfast tacos? Prevalent. Prevalent. Prevalent.

Prevalent. Eric and I both. What do you know? Let's, I just walked into something here. Sorry. It was so exciting. It's a stern thing. How stern thing? Oh, dude. I mean, usually the only one that was so exciting. Oh, good.

How prevalent our breakfast tacos in the rest of the country these days? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Oh, my God. How prevalent are breakfast tacos in the rest of the country these days? I don't know. I don't think at all. Growing up in Southern California, it was breakfast burritos. We didn't really have breakfast tacos at.

I didn't really have any breakfast tacos until we came here for like RTX forever ago. And we went, wow, this is a cool idea. They don't exist in any big way in Michigan. When I used to have, before Ristri, he's only had that other job, you know, it was a traveling job. And I would go, I spent five days a week, like somewhere else in the country.

Yeah. Usually small towns in the middle of nowhere. And I remember one time around 2000, 2001, I was on a trip working one of these places. And a couple of the local employees came into the office where I was on a trip working at one of these places and a couple of the local employees came into the office where I was working, it's like, hey, one of them comes up to me with, hey, you wanted to breakfast tacos?

I was like, oh yeah, I'll pitch him for some breakfast tacos and then all the other employees started laughing and the one who asked me if I wanted to breakfast tacos was like, see, I told you all they're real. She's like, I'm from San Antonio and no one here believed me that breakfast talk was everything in central Texas. So I came in here to ask you to see what your reaction was

and you just proved that I'm right. And I was like, so then I have my wallet in my hands. I'm like, so are there no breakfast talk? I'm sorry, I remind you. I think she's like, sorry, no, no, there's no breakfast talk. That's the saddest way that could have gone. I don't understand why it hasn't become a thing yet She's like, sorry, no, no, there's no breakfast tacos. That's the saddest way that could have gone. I don't understand why it hasn't become a thing yet

because they're so fucking good, right? And it's not like I've ever met anybody who came to Austin, maybe if you go and you get like a dog shit, like Luke Warren breakfast taco from a coffee shop at 11 a.m. But you take somebody to a real breakfast taco place, a sit down place, or even just like your favorite, you know somebody to a real breakfast taco place, a sit-down place, or even just like your favorite, you know, like trailer that has good quality tacos. I've never seen anybody go like, oh, this is what all the fuss is about.

Every single human being goes, oh, it's really good. Why the fuck don't I eat this every day? And I was at it when I used to go to Portland a lot back in the day, spend a lot of time up there. And there was always this, there was this restaurant on, I want to say it was on Albina or Mississippi Street somewhere around there. But, uh, it uh, Kirk, please, you can cut, basically harm someone. You can cut or you can cut that out or leave it. Cut it, cut it off a burp. That was an awesome burp. That's one of those ones you can smell yourself. Oh, yeah. So anyway, I'll point it out.

And that was Mississippi. There was a restaurant that was just called Austin style tacos. Oh wow. And I never went in, because I was like, I can't go in. That's just fucking ridiculous. But it was always packed.

And I remember thinking like, whoever this motherfucker is, he's got to figure it out because it's always packed. Austin Butler. It maybe it was Austin Butler style talk. Yeah. Yeah. Good.

So I'm sorry, immediately, DeRilla, you said breakfast, talk, was anything about that. But like, I love a breakfast burrito, but a breakfast taco might be superior. Oh, yeah. Just because the breakfast burrito is the size of your forearm and it ate 30 a.m. Well, you drink a white animal monster. You don't need that. That's fucked. It's fucked.

And it's the thing that you get. Like that's so normal to go get a whole breakfast burrito and you're just fucked all day. Yeah. When was the last time you had breakfast tacos? When we recorded the Annie's day and night. Oh, it's a week ago. I had him this morning. Yeah.

I went by taco, redo, and got some beaten cheese tacos. A couple weeks ago. I had him this morning. Yeah. I went by Taco Rito and got some beat-in-cheese tacos. I'd say I probably still eat him. I mean, it is definitely like, I would say like 80% of my breakfasts are breakfasts tacos outside of the house. I don't make him at home. I make him all the time at home. I make megas and stuff all the time.

I'd never had megas until I moved here and then it's like, yeah, that's so cool. I was like, oh, we're just putting some chips with these eggs, huh? And it's like, yeah. I've been on a chili kill list kick. Well, that's a couple of years. It's replaced. Chilli kill list are really good.

Yeah. I went, there's a Veracruz restaurant not too far from us here. Veracruz tacos is like a local place where I well known. I think we've talked about them before, maybe on the bike. A couple of times. But they have a brick and mortar restaurant. They opened a couple of months ago over here in Mueller, not too far from the studio.

I don't know that. Yeah, it's great. It's like, wait, anyway. It's great. I highly recommend it. And I went there with my wife and my in-laws a couple of weeks ago. And they all ordered breakfast tacos

and I ordered a chilaquilis. And when we left, my wife was like, I don't know, I don't know why we all ordered breakfast tacos and I ordered a chilaquilis. And when we left, my wife was like, I don't know, I don't know why we all ordered breakfast tacos. I saw you order the chilaquilis and every other person in there, or every other person ordered a chilaquilis in there was speaking Spanish to the server. She's like, I should have keyed into the back.

Maybe that's what I should have got. Not that the breakfast tacos are bad, but just like the chilaquilis there are really good. Chilaquilis is fucking awesome. I wonder, you know, this would be great chili kiela is there are really good. Chili kiela is just fucking awesome. I wonder, you know, this would be great for the audience because we have a global audience. Let us know if you have ever heard of breakfast tacos outside of people talking about Austin or Texas.

Yeah, if you had breakfast tacos where you're at, do they exist or they popular? If they are, Denmark and you're just going, like you call them like something else, I don't know, I was gonna make fun of it, but I don't know how to do that. How did you do this? People sound like, I don't know.

I really don't have to do an accent or any of the language. They call you, you're fucked. You might tell I figure out something to do with those wooden shoes and a dyke and a windmill and tulips. Here it comes. Yeah, let us know.

Let us know if that's a thing. So today's a burger episode. Yeah. I've had it like kind of like in our, in garbage, it's like, it's a family episode. Yeah, it's a burger episode. Yeah. I've had it like kind of like in our, and garbage, it's a family episode. Yeah, it's a burger episode. So we're having an afternoon. Did you guys have coffee today already?

Yeah. I did, yeah. I, yeah, I have two cups before I leave my house. Yes, me too. I'm curious. We didn't have as a coffee together. I just want to hear your coffee stories. I'm gonna have some more in the afternoon.

I, yeah, I've made some coffee at home. You went to Barrett's. I went to Barrett's last weekend. Yeah, I rode my bike over there. It was really nice. I've done Barrett's on this part. No, not yet. It's real good.

It's real good. It's really great, right? I put it up in the same, well, you know, we'll get there. We'll get there, yeah, don't, don't, don't, we'll get there. As exciting, we'll get there. I can't wait, we should have gone, well, we have to go soon.

I've almost had a beans and I don't want to drive myself over. I've been to their sucks. I got some of the greater good beans. They're pretty nice. I've been enjoying that. But so it's a burger episode. I went to Dan's hamburgers. Right. I was going somewhere with that. Sorry. So it's a burger episode. We went to Dan's. Dan's is local, a local chain that's very interesting. It's got some history. I don't know that you or I know it very well. I think you know that you or I know it very well.

We just like, it's like the folklore of it. But it reminds me of a lot of beauty because when we worked in, you know, that, what I don't know, seasons three through five. Five, yeah. When we worked at the first office. Well, seasons one through five were in beauty, but the apartment, three to five specifically.

Specifically the apartment time frame is what I'm talking about. They had just opened up a brand new dance down there. And that was our go-to lunch and breakfast spot for a long time. They had really good breakfast tacos, really good basic breakfast tacos. Like if you have bacon, egg, and cheese

with some red sauce, they gotcha. And then, you know, the burgers we would eat at all the time, I would say that's probably next to like two mamas or Garcia's or the briefs that we had with Big Oak barbecue. It's probably the place we ate at the most in that period of time. And so dance has a lot of red versus blue

probably got worked out over dance hamburgers. Yeah. If I think about it. And that made me feel kind of nostalgic. I've been feeling really nostalgic lately because there has been a threat of an I-35 expansion in Austin for the entirety of my living here. It's finally happening.

They are gonna tear down the upper deck. They're gonna widen I-35. I didn't realize they're tearing down the upper deck. They're gonna widen I-35. I didn't realize they're tearing down the upper deck as part of that. I think so, yeah. They're gonna widen I-35. So all of the establishments. Yeah, but only for the next decade.

Decade. All of the establishments on the feeder road, not all of them, but a lot of the establishments on the feeder road right around downtown are going away. They just got a 90 day notice to get kicked out. I'm talking about places that you love like that Mexican restaurant, El Tapatillo over there. Is that what's called?

No, you think it looks all this. Looks all this is over there. Eric's sex shop dreamers is over there. Yeah, where am I supposed to go for all my sex now? What? Also your vampire store, I think is like a glass coffin. Yeah, there's a fucking vampire store. Yeah, your vampire store, I think is a glass coffin. Yeah, there's a fucking vampire store. Yeah, your vampire store.

There's a vampire store right over there. It's in a house. It's a big, filial vampire. It's a big glass coffin and you buy like vampire supplies. What are vampire supplies? I don't know. Blood, teeth, I'm not into it. But I feel like.

It's a lot of supplies related to vampires are for the killing of vampires. I agree. I think it's all, it's pro, we have our he-pro or anti-vampire. I think the deal is it's all bullshit, so they can sell whatever they want. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because if you walk into that store to buy that stuff, you're already kind of bullshit. You're committed. You're committed. You're into the thing. This is the guy who made a ghost hunting show, but he's really his vampires. I love vampires, I don't't wanna go to the vampire store

to buy vampire stuff. Anyway, but one of those places that's gonna be bulldozed is Star Seats. Yeah, that's what's called. And I also found out I was gonna do a little bit of research. I think I might devote the next so-all, right, that I record to it. It's actually called Star's Cafe again.

I noticed that. And I was kind of bummed to see that they had been given that notice and I was thinking they're going to try to move, but I was reading a KXA article about it. They were going to try to move or they're still investigating moving, but I think the rent for, they couldn't find rent anywhere that's not three to five times more than they're paying now. And like most restaurants in Austin, they're just barely scraping by. Right, you know? But man, that's a lot of history,

a lot of my history, and a lot of our history wrapped up in that little building, you know? I first went there when I was 18 and 1994, and it is, it became my first favorite place in Austin. Huh. And I place in Austin. And I fell in love. It's, if you've never been there,

if you're not from Austin, you probably haven't been there. It's just a shitty, shitty, greasy spoon, hole in the wall, 24 hour diner that serves bad breakfast and bad burgers. But it was the place that everybody went to when you, after you left a show at 2 a.m. and you weren't ready to go home yet

or the bar's closed, but you still wanted a party or whatever, you wanted to sober up. Everybody ended up at Star Seeds. And I would say from 21 to, most of my 20s, I spent there with you. Yeah, I would say, I think that back then, the options were like Star Se seeds, Kirby or Magnolia. Yeah.

And I wasn't about that Kirby or Magnolia crowd. I was in star seeds first. Kirby and Magnolia were also always fucking crowded. You always had to stand and like, nobody wants to get out of your car at 2.30 the morning after you just left the bar and go stand outside a diner for 15 minutes to get in to go get shitty food. Star seeds, you could, you very rarely had to wait.

It was rare. It would happen, but it was rare. You, uh, you got to sit in this grimy fucking diner with sticky seats and even stickier table and employees with incredibly sticky attitudes. They did not like you. They were, they were, there were no two ways about it. It was so, there was something so charming about the whole experience, you know. I always loved it so much. And I was really bummed to see that they're gonna, they're gonna have to go away. I understand it.

And I think that everybody in Austin understands the desperate need we have to expand in our state 34. Do we? We do. I don't think we need to. One more line. It was, I mean, and there was, we've talked, I think we've to. One more lane. I mean, and we've talked, I think we've talked about this before where

it was such a like a well-known place that when you would go there, when the bars were closed at 2.30 in the morning or whatever, it was a regular occurrence to run into other friends of yours. Like, oh, you were out too, like you went to another place and you would just be like, oh, that's, it made your social circle feel so much bigger than it was.

Yeah. Because Gus, you and I have never had a large social circle. It's a line. But you're right. You're so blind. It goes so many times. You're a murderer to do. That's it.

Okay, usually Eric steps across the line and a alarm goes off. Uh, we're here. Uh, but you're, we would go there and there'd be like a 30 or 40% chance we'd see somebody we knew or trying to knew and that always felt cool and I was kind of bummed to see it go. I'm not I guess I can't be too bummed because I don't think I've been there in 12 years

I the last house. It's probably been nine or 10 years. I've been there and it's changed ownership three or four times at this point I think two but I Think it's probably gonna go away and because, well, I don't know, how do I know? This is a conjecture, right? Maybe they'll find a new space to move it. But when it moves, and I hope if they wanna

continue the restaurant and they do, and they find an awesome spot for it, and I hope it has many great years at that spot. But it, that location, sorry, the people are looking at something. That location is gonna go away. And that, which has been there since, I wanna say 1966. Wow.

Yeah, it was originally Star's Cafe. Because the hotel, the motel behind it was called the Stars Inn. It's a daison now. It's a daison now. I guess when they change it to the daison, they changed it to Star Seeds Cafe, which is what I always knew it as.

And then a new family bought it two years ago and flipped it to Star's Cafe again. But it was such a big part of my life that one time I drove by and they were replacing the sign on the top and they were throwing the old letters in the dumpster. And so I waited till the guy was finished and I went and I dug the letters out.

And I had, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We were like, where we saw them putting the shit in the dumpster. And I had the S and the S from Star Seeds. In my yard, they were like, old rusted yellow medals. And I painted them, I repainted them, I had them all fancy.

I don't know where the fuck they are now, but they were like a big part of my house. I had one inside and one outside for a long time. I remember because we drove by, like they was such an influential place to us. Yeah. I remember we were talking, like I can't believe they're just throwing it away.

There's putting it in the dumpster. Yeah. It was a, when it was a much bigger place when Austin was a much smaller place. Yeah. I'll say that to Austin. And it's just like just reading that today. I was kinda, it's a, kinda place. Yeah. I'll say that to Austin. And it's just like just reading that today. It's kind of bittersweet.

I'm also like, I'm cool with it. It's change happens. Yeah. You know, it's inevitable. It has to happen. But definitely like the closing of a certain chapter for I imagine a lot of people in Austin, a lot of grimy, tattooed, hung over dirty people, you know, who ate a lot of mediocre sunbow breakfasts there.

Which used to be the majority of the city. I feel like there used to be the majority of the city. I have changed quite a bit. It used to be a lot of people that fit that descriptor you're talking about. And I feel like it's not that case anymore. I only went once and there was one guy working. There was like no one else I went with like my wife.

There was one guy working. He took our order and then he went back into the kitchen and made the food and then he brought it back to us and then he sat back down and started reading his paper back. So that was it was great. I've been reading reviews on Reddit about it. People talking about having like a like remember your favorite star seeds moments.

Apparently it's been like that since the pandemic. Oh really? Yeah, it didn't used to be that way. It used to be there was, there would be a dude who was cooking, who behind the counter, who looked like he just got out of prison, probably because he just got out of prison and was on work release.

And then there were like two board, like counter help, host, host, or host of people who were like super fucking cool and way cooler than you and two fucking board and they're reading like Kafka or whatever behind the counter and it was such a vibe in. But that Austin is no longer, no longer exists. It's changed quite a bit.

I think you can find it around the campus area still. I just don't think we go around the campus area at all. I bet you can find things that are pretty similar, but not quite that. Yeah, maybe Red River Cafe. I think there's definitely spots out there. It's just spots we don't go to at all. Like why would I go,

do you going around campus? Get fucking free. Well, I don't, I don't wanna go to the run campus back then. Yeah, I don't go to Star Seeds anymore, well, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, but anyway, I just read that and I thought that was kind of a, I felt kind of melancholy about it, you know, but just a sign of the change in times. It.

So I'm gonna, I'm gonna have to disagree with you on something you said earlier. Okay, please do. I don't think we should be expanding 35. I really think it's counterintuitive or counterproductive to do so. I think that what we should be doing is investing more in our mass transit and building out the system that got voted on a couple of years ago and trying to accelerate that

because we need to move people more efficiently, more people in smaller spaces versus people in one or two people in a car. Totally agree with that and agree with you there. I don't think that that's the real problem. I think the real problem is interstate commerce. I think the real problem is semi trucks going up and down the country and we've got to alleviate that.

When I'm stuck, I don't get on I-35 very often, but when I'm stuck in traffic and I-35 and I look around, it's me and just 18-wheeler just as far as the I can see. And mass transit's not gonna solve that. Is that what 130 was for though? 130 didn't solve that. Oh yeah.

They said they were gonna build it, and then they were gonna pass a lot of make-all trucks have to go out there, and they're like, oh wait, we can't do that. Yeah. Oh, we got the perfect plan. Uh-oh, oh man, that sucks. But I think, you know, if you had alternatives,

then you wouldn't have to drive and be stuck in there with the semis. Okay, give 35 to the semis, give 35 to commerce. Let's find other ways to do it. I'm totally on board with that. And like, MoPAC is the other, is on the other side of town and is the opposite of that, right? It is just packed all the time, but there's no semis.

It's just local traffic. And I look at that and I think like, well, we really need more than that H.O.V. lane to fix that problem. Like, that's a great example of needing mass transit. I just think 35 just has bigger problems than Austin. I think that a big problem with Austin's infrastructure is that you can't go left and right.

You can only go up and down. Yeah. You have to get on city streets. I take 15th to get across town. And it's like, oh, I have to get on city streets. I take 15th to get across town. And it's like, oh, I have to drive downtown to go across town or I can go all the way up north to get across town to go all the way back down. And that I think is a really, really, really big problem here.

You know, we were talking about folklore earlier and we'll probably talk about Dan's folklore as we understand it. That was a thing that I always heard when I first moved to Austin. And maybe you know if this is true or not. I think it's like one of those things is partially true, but I guess the guy who designed

35 committed suicide. Yeah, I think that's a story that's passed out. I don't think it's actually true. It's not true. I thought that it was like, it was one of those things that had elements of truth. We know that person's niece. Oh. We worked with her at the call center.

That's why I know that it's not true. That's why you know it's not true. It's not true. Yeah. Okay. Because I said that once around her and she's like, actually, it's not true. It was my uncle who made that. He's still alive.

Oh, dang, you have to tell me who it was after off camera. I mean, they should build east-west freeways, right? Like, that's not insane. Let's not build freeways. I'm with you. I'm with you. I don't want-west freeways, right? Like that's not insane. Let's not build freeways. I'm with you, I'm with you. I don't want to build freeways, but there's none. There's not gonna go to 71 or up 183 to one, that's insane. The fact that you can't get from the airport

to downtown without calling a car is fucking nuts. That's nuts. Yeah. This is an unseerious city for things like that. That's wild. It's an unseerious city considering the city is seriously courting global industry. Yeah, there would be. And trying to be a major player in the global entertainment world.

There was a very long article in the New York Times last week or the week before about how fucked the Austin Airport is. Oh, really? I don't know if you read it. Yeah. It was specifically about near collisions. Like it starts highlighting that near collision

last February between the FedEx plane and the Southwest plane at Bergstrom. But then it talks about other incidents. And it's very much like, hey, the US Airspace in general has problems, but the Oster Airports fuck, there's gonna be an accident soon. Was the gist of the article. I hope it's not you.

It's a, it's a, it was an interesting read. I'll be right back to you guys if you haven't seen it yet. Did it set the airplane community ablaze? Or what? I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back.

I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back.

I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right back. I'll be right kind of following behind on recruiting there and I think that we're starting to see some of the edges for a little bit.

People, I think most air traffic controllers have to work mandatory over times like six days a week now. Oh. And it's just like, it's just starting to wear out. And it's gonna get worse, right? Before it gets better because it takes so long to train up new staff, competently.

And so there's gonna be a vacuum in the, for a few years. People retiring, new people, not only starting, but getting the experience being early in their career and catching up and having trouble recruiting in general. Right. I wish they would talk about it more because I think it's a great job for people who aren't really sure what they want to do. But if they have interest in something like that, if you find that early enough in your life,

dude, you're like, you're making a difference and you're set and it's a government thing, and it's like, man, there's just a lot of people that I think could go and do a career like that, that have no idea that thing exists. I know, Clou. You don't need a college degree to do that job. Like you have to pass all of their exams

to make sure you can think, like you need to have like a very specific way your mind works to be able to think to do that job. Like you have to pass obviously all of their exams to make sure you can think. Like you need to have like a very specific way your mind works to be able to think and do that job. But like you said, it's a government job when I toured the facilities here in Austin. I met a dude who's probably a little older than me. He's like, yeah, I've been doing this for, you know, 20, 25 years.

I've been ready to retire. He's like, he has, he's like, you're matching being a little older than me. And like, like, like, guys, I'm already like, I'm gonna retire. I've got, I've got, I've got a good pension from this job. I don't know if it's like you're matching being a little older than me and like, like, guys are already like, I'm gonna retire, I'm gonna have a good pension from this job. I don't know if it's still the case, but I feel like I may have mentioned this on this podcast, so I apologize for repeating myself,

but when I joined the army, you know, I went to journalism school, journalism school, they actually tell you this early on, has the second highest rate of suicides in military schools. The first highest rate is air traffic control and it's by a mile. Like it is so fucking stressful.

That's the most suicides in the military that happened during what's called AIT happened in air traffic control school. That does not sound right. Or at least that was the case in 1994. Right. It's been, I recognize 30 years, but you know. 30 years without Kurt. Kurt? Yeah. Think about it. I remember the day he died. It was the day I got the Fort Hood. Oh yeah. I think we talked about it on the podcast. I went to my

first strip club. Hey man, I was going, hey, Kurt Cobain's fucking dead. Yeah. Exactly. That guy just are as repeating. He can't make it to the wedding unfortunately. I know. Oh man. It was also the first time I went to a strip club, first time I got kicked out of the strip club. A lot of firsts. It was an important day.

Yeah, it was a big day, a big day. Kirk, remember the big ones. Kirk O'Bane died so you could fly. Oh yeah. This episode of ANMA is sponsored by BetterHelp. Have you ever felt like you knew what was good for you but your brain keeps getting in the way? Maybe you know it would be good to get some rest, but your brain won't shut off.

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ordinary. We might have to make this episode a little bit shorter than normal, because we have a lot of things going on today. But I want to get into Dan's hamburgers. So there are, how many, I can think of, all the top of my head, I can think of three dance locations in Austin itself. There's the one down here off the airport that we went to. There's a one on North Lamar, kind of by Canaan.

Which is supposedly really good, I've never eaten. I've been there, that was excellent. And then there's another one down south, like off of Ben White and Manchak, I think. And then there's the one in Beauty, where you talk about it. I think there's, I think there's four. Maybe, is there five? That's all I can think about.

I've got my name. I've Dan's Hambert Corporate Office, Ben White. Terrible burgers there. I have no idea. It's like paper. Dan's a fantastic burger. I wouldn't say it's better than Hilbert's, but it's like in the, it's like the, it's like the tear just below that. It's a fucking, like you can't go wrong. Yeah. You won't be unhappy. Hilbert's

just had a 50th anniversary party this past weekend at the location here that we went to their own location off the Cameron. I was out of town so I couldn't go. I thought I was very upset about it. Oh, bummer. But yeah, the huge milestone for them, to pass it to you. We should have done a podcast from it. Next time that we do, we should have next time, do a lot of podcast.

50 more years. But Dan, I agree with that. Like just a level below. Yeah. Dan's a sort of, when I moved here, that was sort of put on a, and pedestal's not really like the right term, but it was definitely a lot.

It is like, this is an Austin institution. Like this is one of our places. Don't talk shit about it. Yeah, it's definitely that. And then I ate it and I went, oh, this is fucking good. Like it was, it's very good. But you guys said there was lore around dance

and that has to do with like a divorce or something. Do you want to, do you want to, do you feel, you go for, you're putting more than I do. Here's how I understand it. There was a restaurant in Austin on South Congress for many, many, many years. It's a Torchies tacos right now. It's a very fancy Torchies tacos.

It used to be this incredibly charming hamburger, kind of like top notch where you can roll up. And I think that there were some out, some of the, like outdoor car. Sonic style car hop things, yeah. But you could also go inside and it was, it was just really well designed inside and really cute in Austiny.

And it was called France, France hamburgers. And there was a giant like, the kind of like big boy. You kind of like a Bob's big boy statue of a lady holding a hamburger with like a ponytail on top. And it was like one of the things that you saw, like you go down South Congress.

There's a few things that stick out, you know, Lucy and disguise always stuck out. Dan France hamburgers always stuck out. It's like, it was pretty larger than life. And it was one of those places that you walk in and you were walking into a place that hadn't been updated since 1955 and it felt like it. And I loved it.

I fucking loved it. I loved going there. It was so much fun. And it was such a cool place to go sit at. It had such a great vibe. Apparently Dan and Fran got divorced. And in the divorce, as I understand it, Fran kept Fran's.

Dan spun off and created his own chain of restaurants called Dan's. And so they were like dueling restaurants. The burgers were the same, by the way. I know you'd never went to France because it closed before you got here. It was the exact same thing. You've eaten France.

You ate France today. Yeah, whatever you just had, that was if that was France burger. Wow. That's crazy. The only difference is Dan's is a little more sparse than we'd go into France. You'd be eating an extra picture of like an old Corvette or whatever, you know. And so Dan's grew, and I think that he had a different vision than Fran's, that I think Fran just wanted to keep her restaurant going.

And eventually, I think she retired and sold the place. The giant Fran statue I've seen in different yards around town. It makes its way around. It wasn't cherry wood for a while. I saw driving through one day. But yeah, and then so eventually, Fran's, she got out from under it, retired or whatever, sold it, torches open up there, and now Dan's is still going strong. But that's the lore that I understand.

That's what I know as well. Yeah. But yeah, contentious as we understand contentious. Yeah. Would you divorce kills a lot of restaurants? Manja, same thing happened to Manja. Oh, is that what happened to her? I think it divorced took Manja, same thing happened to Manja. Oh, is that what happened to you? I think it divorced, took Manja out.

They had a few locations. They had one, by campus where the V313 is now, that was a different building. They actually bulldozed it. There's that. There was the one off of Lake Austin Boulevard over by Poolburger, actually. Yep, that's the one off the Thai restaurant though.

There was a one off of Mesa as well. There was the one on Guadalupe, right? Yeah, that was the one by where V313 is. Okay, yeah, yeah. What is that? It's Manja's. It was a deep dish pizza place like star a style pizza and it had a Godzilla. Their mascot was a Godzilla with sunglasses and he is now on top of Weetsville Colour. I was about to say. Oh, that thing. Yeah. That was the mantra. That makes no sense to be on top of Weetsville Colour.

I have no idea that's what it was. I just went. It's a deep, that's a deep dish pizza Godzilla. Yeah. So you think they're trying to like rub that in what it was. I just went, it's a deep dish pizza Godzilla. So you think they're trying to rub that in the nose of via three? Because magic is to be right there across. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, they're trying to rub via three on three's nose in it and go like, yeah, you know,

we just heard, I heard once there was a man just still in town somewhere. I think that there was one by the domain, like off of Duval and MoPak. We should have a, I don't know if it's still there. That's a burger episode of the story. It might be gone. Um M A N D I A. Yeah. Like manja when you're here. Uh yeah, it was like super manja la pasta. No. Yeah. It

was super deep dish like fucking super super. Super. Oh pizza. I would eat it every now and then but it was it was a lot like that was a fucking mm-hmm. That was a lot to eat like you had like a slice you're like I then, but it was a lot. Like that was a fucking, that was a lot to you. Like you had like a slice, you're like, I'm done. It's a lot of, a lot of, and maybe it's the case in all cities, but I spent my entire adult life in Austin for the most part. So this is what I know. A lot of divorce related drama,

a lot of family drama around restaurants. We get into a whole blacks thing. We've got like, like, a lot of people go to Terry blacks down there on Barton Springs. It was called Blacks briefly. He's the grandson of the Black family who's famous out in Crites in Lockhart. They have a restaurant out there called Blacks.

And I think his own family sued him and told him he couldn't name it Blacks. And so we had to call it Terry Blacks. There's a lot of that. That like that's a Mule or Barbecue. Do you remember Mule or Bar barbecue way back in the day? That dude was always having fights with his family and always opening it up and closing down

the barbecue restaurants. That's insane. Yeah. Yeah, like if you ever go down to Lockhart, which maybe we should make a trip down there one of these days, it's just barbecue city down there between like crisis, blacks,

there's three smitties. Yeah, and two of those are good. I don't like blacks. I'm not a big fan of black barbecue either. But, well, just crisis and smitties are just like, next level, like incredible. Next, one time, fucking level. I was at crisis and I don't know if it's still,

so I haven't been at crisis. Cause it's in lock hearts a little bit, which I haven't been down there in a few years. You would go in and you would like queue up, go in, get in line, order all your barbecue, and then you'd get in a different line for your sides and your drinks and whatnot. The line was like in an unair conditioned space because you were out kind of by the pits, and then you would come inside for your sides and all of that. That's where you would sit down.

Anyway, I was sitting inside. I'd gotten all my food and everything, and I was sitting inside, not too far from the counter where you get your sides and your desserts and all of that. And there was an employee behind the counter, she's wiping the counter down. And there's this guy kind of across from me, eating barbecue, and he looks around, looks up, sees the woman wiping the counter down, walks over to her

and goes, hey, do you have any barbecue sauce? And she's not looking up, she does not look at it. She's just looking down, wiping the counter. She goes, why do you think the barbecue sauce? And she's not looking up, she does not look at it. She's just looking down wiping the counter. She goes, why do you think the barbecue needs it? He goes, yeah, I think I could use some sauce for the barbecue. She stops wiping the counter, looks straight in the eye and says, well then maybe you shouldn't eat here.

Whoa, that's awesome. Then it's down and continues wiping that same spot on the counter. What are you doing? And the guy's just like, what? I saw somebody ask that lady for a fork once and she said, God gave you two forks. They called your hands.

Ha ha ha ha. They don't fuck around there. They're not known for being a surly place. No. It's just that they're very particular about their barbecue. Yeah. And for good reason, I mean, that place has been around forever.

They've been doing it right for a very long time. Yeah, it's really good. Great barbecue. Dude, that's cool as hell. We should go down there for an episode. You've eaten there. What? You've eaten there. When did I eat there?

When you came to Emily's birthday party? Yeah. We rented that house out in Lockhart. Yeah, that was, I got crisis at that. Oh, that shit was good. Yeah, that was like, I couldn't stop. Yeah, that was so good. Crisis amazing.

And I think the other place, smitties is a little better. Smitties is probably a little better. Yeah. And so, and the smitties is like, it's an experience to go in. They call it the cathedral of meat. You go through this hallway.

The walls are blackened from soot, from all the beef. For over a hundred years, it's an open fire in the ground at the end of it. And it's like, it can be 20 degrees outside. You walk through the hallway and it's 110 instantly. And you gotta like go through that gauntlet to get up to order your meat. And it's fucking awesome.

So good. But we're talking about hamburgers. Yeah, we're new to dance, baby. Uh, so excellent burger. Not in my opinion, not up to the same caliber as like a hillburt. But for me, hillburt's is like the perfect burger. Again, giving it the caveat. If you're visiting Austin and you're hungry,

Dan's is a great place to go get a burger. If you're visiting Austin and you wanna have an Austin experience and you wanna eat like the best burger you can get, there's probably better places that'll, or places that'll give you a better Austin memory. Maybe, you know what I mean? I wouldn't make it the one burger I ate in town. I'd maybe pick mighty fine or something,

but it's a fucking great. It's an institution. Yeah. And the food's good. It's a really good burger. They dice the onion on it. It's like lots of little diced white onion, which I do prefer.

Hilbert gives you that whole fucking solid white onion ring, which can be a little tough to get through sometimes. So the dice dining on this is a little more, a little easier to get through. That's what bugs me at in and out too. I feel like he had half an onion. Yeah. But I do, I do like it.

It's my birthday. I'm a big, I'm a big, I'm a big one with a, but I do prefer them diced. Yeah. What would you rate the burger? I mean, I agree with you. I think it's a, I would take a friend who's in from out of town here But not the first time they're in Austin. Yeah, it would be like the second or third time and I'm like oh, you go get a burger It's actually to spot out. I give it an eight exactly

I think I think I had spot on I'd say it's a it's on the same level as like water burger Oh, I think it's definitely well water burgers gone downhill a little bit last couple years, but it's all I know is how it tastes now And I don't like it. I think what's definitely better. Well, water burgers gone downhill a little bit in the last couple of years, but it, uh... It's all, all I know is how it tastes now, and I don't like it. I think water burgers sucks. Water burgers, I get water burgers like a seven. But, I'm not just boiling my water burger, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, I'm just, don't worry, we weren't going to eat it water burger.

As days spoil that all you want. We're not gonna eat it water burger. Convenient, they got an app, you can customize everything in order online. I think. Dude, they got great customization Yeah, the apps a little clunky though like if you want to order just a burger without a drink It's like you have to go through the drink screen and the check out flow. It's like I don't want this

Why are you showing me this you just bought a whole water burger outfit? I feel like a water burger shirt That's of great Hispanic heritage month merchandise. I bought a water burger. Why am I that it's awesome? I love it That's so cool. It's gonna be my old guy thing. I gotta start thinking about how to get those shirts. They had another shirt, I said, okay, I'm bored, yes, sir, but they were sold out in my size.

Oh, that's fun. That's fun. That's fun. That's fun. We're like 35 in, but we do have to wrap up pretty soon, but we do wanna get to an anarchy question. If you wanna send us a question, you can at and a podcast on Twitter and on Instagram,

but you can also go to the subreddit that we do not run or slash and a podcast. There's a weekly discussion thread. People drop in questions and stuff like that. Let's grab one from there. Let's see. Mm-hmm. This is from Epsilon Protocol.

That's my favorite video game. It's like a Saturn I had a choice between getting a Sega Saturn a PlayStation that picks Sega I'd say a CD oh boy Satisfied I could have had a PlayStation. I could have a PlayStation guy, but I was fucking Sega Saturn. Hope you enjoyed night Dude that's exactly what it was. It was that. That was it.

It was that. I think there was a Sonic game. A bunch of demo disc, Frank Thomas Bigheart Baseball. Oh, that was tunnel rats. Oh, fuck. That was tunnel rats. Uh, epsilon protocol activate. Y'all have been busting your collective asses for a long time other than sabbaticals. How do you

prevent burnout in your work and how do you work to prevent burnout in those who report to you? I don't think anyone really has anyone. I have one person that reports to me, but I don't worry about his burnout. How do you guys deal with burnout in general? Other people's burnout is no longer my concern. It used to be. Yeah, absolutely. Other people's burnout is no longer my concern. It used to be. For a very long time. Absolutely. Other people's burnout was one thing.

And now it's called dog markers. No, it changed. It was genuinely my main concern. I think you should answer that first, Gus. It's weird. I think we've covered this before. I think we broke ourselves at an early age. So we're not the best people to talk about that. I got to give that big caveat and that big

asterisk out of the way. We had a very unusual, we were in a very unusual position when we started this company and we worked in extremely unhealthy ways for a very long time. So that part of my brain is broken to a large extent. Which is also, I will say, I think a generational thing because we weren't unique, right? That was how you worked back then. And I would say, if Rupert Heath, probably, and definitely enhanced my unhealthy relationship,

I shouldn't, it sounds like I'm blaming Roostery. The thing that we created, our passions, our desire to make stuff, Gus, led to my enhanced my unhealthy relationship with work. But it started for me, probably in the army, when I was working seven days a week for five fucking years. And then I worked on a newspaper,

and then it was a weekly news, it was the largest weekly newspaper in the army. So you would put it out on Thursday, and then you would go back to your office and you'd be behind on the next Episodial next newspaper and newspapers don't take holidays They you know they and so I was already used to working on a treadmill and then we got hired at not too long after that I got hired at the tech support company, which was a treadmill. I mean, you and I were, it just never stopped. It was 24, 7, 365 day year seamless integrated tech support, which is what they called it. And so we were already attuned to a world that like, okay, you know, I like a lot of jobs

you say, I'm gonna go on vacation for two weeks. I'll see you and just leave it on my desk. I'll take care of it when I get back. You know, a 365 day year text support company isn't like that. Yeah. And so Gus and I were already in that world for years before we, we, we, we started from that world. And so we just applied. Richard Heath was our escape. It was our escape. And what a fuck. No, dude. Yeah, but what a fucking escape it was for sure. But Roust Heath was our escape from that and we just applied the same Ethic work ethic unhealthy or healthy however you wanted to look at it to the thing that we wanted to do and for us

That was the most freeing thing on earth because I was under the impression that I was gonna have to physically work myself to the Bone until I died because that's how it is But I was doing it for somebody else and somebody else's thing. So when we, guess what I got, a whiff of the opportunity or the possibility that we can work ourselves that hard for ourselves, there was no problem. Yeah. And I didn't want to slow down. Yeah. So for, it was years before I, I'm sure you were the same one, it was years before I could even think about burnout here. Yeah. It's like there was no time to deal with it. So these days it's very different, you know, where it's

it's a lot more relaxed than it used to be back then. I just try, you know, I feel like one of the benefits here is the variety of different things that you get to do. It's like, if I had to do Anima every day, that would not be great. We would burn out. But I'm doing Anima today. I might do stinky dragon tomorrow or just whatever projects pop up.

That helps keep things fresh. And if we plan far enough in advance, we can schedule time off. And it's finally to a point where I can close my email and not have slack open, leave the office and then not worry about, be like, I can take care of it when I come back. There are people who can do things without me. I don't need to be there. I think you really keyed into the answer for me as well, which is, we are blessed.

I guess I shouldn't say blessed because all the stuff I'm doing now is stuff that I made or helped make. So, but blessed in the sense that they're, like you're saying, there's enough variety that if I'm hitting the wall on so alright, which happens fairly frequently, I can just go, oh, I'm just gonna put this away for a while and because there's three things I need to do on fuckface,

or there's four things I need to do for the break show, or for Anne, or I wanted to write, so there's always, whenever you hit a roadblock or you hit a burnout moment, which happened all the time to me now, especially as I get older, you just compartmentalize it and put it away and then work on something fresh for a little while

because there's always something else for me to do. And so I never have to feel stuck, and that helps a lot. I feel like Restartee Thin as a company now is more versatile. I don't know if that's the right word, but then it's ever been where you can compartmentalize and do different things.

We're doing podcasts. We're doing a bunch of like these like smaller things. Everything was like, here's the RT short. This is gonna take all your time. And now you're doing Achievement Hires, all this, this is taking all your time. It was larger pillar pieces instead of like the smaller things where you can kind of pick them up

and put them away as you need. And I feel like that's a lot healthier, I guess, to work in that way than it is to, all right, well, I have to see this thing through to the bitter end because this is the only thing I'm working on this week and burning out on it that way. There was one more question that I wanted to get to. This is from TheXGameR192.

I found it interesting. You guys have previously joked about pulling the founder card in order to have something happen. Was that a real thing that you could have done if so did you ever use it? And what I didn't laminate mine and I watched it. I knew it. It was in my pants. To me, that's what this podcast is where everyone just sort of leaves us. They're like, well, it's the Gus and Jeff thing and they will just leave them alone with that. Yeah. That that's this show is the founders card. I would have been a boy, that would have been a way better.

You know, I'm just a card set of a bitch. Every once in a while, I'll ask Eric, like how are the views? How are the numbers on Anna and Eric goes? You don't ask, you don't ask. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. But here's the thing, it does find for a little show

that costs as much as hamburgers. Yeah. But I know that when I tell you the number, you're gonna be like, all right, we have to devise a plan to figure out how to find growth. And I'm like, we can just go get coffee with guests. Let's just do it. This is the one where we can hang out with that. I know. I'm my own worst enemy.

You protect me from that, I appreciate it. There are times, like, you know, we do get bogged down sometimes and looking at the numbers and things like you're talking about. Like, I don't wanna make a show with the intent of hitting KPIs. Yes. Like, I want to make a show because I enjoy it, or I think creatively this makes sense.

I don't want to worry about like, is this meeting some other broader, larger goal? It's like, we should just let the creativity or the idea drive it, make it, make it as good as we can. And then, if it's successful, great. If it's not successful, then either the creative sucked or I don't know. I'd rather look at it in the rear view and analyze

why it didn't work than try to over-tinker in a pre-production. Like a thousand yards down the road and try to figure out how to avoid pitfalls that aren't necessarily there. I just think that you work yourself into your solving problems that aren't problems and you're creating other problems and you're not solving it.

Like you're not solving the right things. And it just slows the process down. It does, that's true. And it makes it not fun. Yeah. Boy, it makes it not fun. Eric is bound and determined to make sure that we make this stuff fun.

That's all I want to just, because then it doesn't come, it comes across in the final product. It comes across in the end. I totally agree. If we had a fucking hour long and my meeting about KPIs this morning, I'd be sitting here like a fucking zombie like,

I don't want to fucking do this right now. I'm fucking put a bullet in my head. There's no way I'm gonna go through a KPI meeting with that every year. And that's why I think gonna go through a KPI meeting with that ever again. And that's why I think that when you... Key performance indicator. Yes, it case you didn't know. Sorry.

And that's not a Roostee thing, that's an issue. No, that's what it is to have a job. And no, like even when I worked outside of entertainment, that was the term. But I think that finding the fun in stuff is super key to make you not burn out. And also when it's like pulling the founder card, I think that you have something like that because you've been successful in how many four decades or something. I don't remember how your math works.

The spell of your card as it is, as it is, is ever manifests. It tends to manifest as Gus and I having a lot of historical knowledge. Yeah. So that when they, when a problem arises or an initiative arises or a thing they want to do, Gus and I can go, well, this is how it worked in 2008. This is what we did in 2012. We had this problem in 2014 and this is how we adjusted for it. And so I think it's less about like, Gus and I are never going to pull up like a red card in a meeting and go like, no, you know,

that's not possible. We're not soccer referees. You're never gonna- It's just institutional knowledge. But we have a lot of historical institutional knowledge and I think that we are able to influence certain things at times when appropriate. Yeah, and we're not in charge.

No, no, not at all. And you guys are also, like, I don't want people to get the wrong idea about the Founders Card being like a real thing. You would send an email and be like, hey, this is my role and this is what I'm doing and that's the end of it and you need to get in line. Like that, does that mean you fucking imagine Gus or I ever speaking to anybody like that?

No, oh my God. But that's why we work together. Yeah. Because I just simply would not work with you if that's how you work. I would hate to be that person. Yeah, yeah, I would hate to be around them. Yeah. I just wouldn't work with them.

But again, I think the founders thing is more like, to be able to have a little bit of shelter from like, having a show like Ann Moher it is, we're gonna go spend $13 on some cups of coffee and sort of do this fan service thing because I don't know that you have a lot of that in other facets. Yeah, for sure.

You get a lot of leeway, I will say that. It's that, like when you have three decades of hits in under your belt and you come to somebody and you say, I wanna do this thing, I recognize it doesn't make sense on paper right now, but trust me, because let me do it. Let me work, give me 18 months, and I'll make it make sense. You get, that's, we have that, I would say, for sure.

Are we named a podcast? That comes from 20th something years of bustin' our asses doing this day in and day out. And that's the currency, that's the currency that you accrue. Yeah, for sure. I think winning solves everything and having success over time, where you can have the historical knowledge really.

That to me is the founder's card more than going, I started this thing. Yeah. He's not a keeper. Nobody gives a fuck. Yeah, I've been working here for five years. I don't give a shit. Cool.

Well, if you want to send us good questions, like those, those are very good questions. Excellent. You can, and we have to get out of here, but at Animal Podcast, Instagram and Twitter, sorry, X, our slash Animal Podcast, a subreddit, we don't run, check it out. Also, you can subscribe to first, watch face off,

check out all the Face Jam content we're putting out at FaceJMPod.com, FaceFuckFacePod.com also. Tune into the break show every week. Turnin', that's the break show's great. That's a founder's card in right there. Yeah, it's currently the only live broadcast show in your seat and it doesn't need to be and it's only broadcast live to appease me.

Yeah, I think. Pretty much. And also Stinky Dragon. A lot of great stuff coming out of Stinky Dragon. Go check it out. The puppet show coming out. Yeah, and new episodes. Guys, thank you so much for listening to Any Final Words for these folks.

Just win, baby. Good morning, Gus. Did you know that you can't simply walk into mortar? I'm Krista Marish from Black Box Down and Tales from the Sticky Dragon, and 10 years ago, me and a friend hiked across New Zealand from the Hobbiton movie set to the Real World Mount Doom. Now, we're going back to recreate Bilbo Baggins' journey from the Hobbit, in the ultimate Lord of the Rings adventure.

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